


Christmas Memories

by blairdchett



Category: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Trauma, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Debbie is too soft here, Domestic Debbie/Lou, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heist Wives, Holidays, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Moms Debbie/Lou, Motherhood, Post heist, they're too cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:34:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28274658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blairdchett/pseuds/blairdchett
Summary: After Lou has spent most of her life hating the holidays, Debbie and their three daughters are willing to make her change her mind.
Relationships: Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	Christmas Memories

**Author's Note:**

> I just had this idea three days ago and I rushed to write it down before Christmas, so... yeah.  
> Excuse me if the writing's awful, English is not my mother tongue.

“December 11th” was showing on the calendar, although heating the place remained a challenge, the heater was on thanks to the cold wind blowing intensely that day. The Ocean-Miller household decoration remained plain, regular, and, to be honest, boring for that time of year. It had no holiday touch whatsoever. It never did, because they never celebrated Christmas for as long as they could remember. Lou wouldn’t allow it.

The place was weirdly silent, and a little too serene than usual. Since the two mothers had gotten used to having three little brats running all over the house, sometimes playing tag, sometimes wanting to kill each other and other times running away from either one of them after doing something wrong or out of line. In that very morning, Debbie enjoyed the chamomile tea she’d made for herself, while dressed in a comfortable robe and her hair tied up in a messy bun. No one was awake yet, so she took that moment to endure her own company and that warm morning silence. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t last very long, since their middle and youngest daughters, Darcy and Devon, woke up more energetic than ever. “Morning, babies!” she said as she watched them run down the stairs in her purple pajamas. “Hi mummy!” both yelled in unison. As Debbie got up to place the mug down the sink, both girls rushed to give her a hug, and as always, the topic of ‘Who got there first’ turned into a fight between the little ones.

“Get out, ‘Arcy, I hug mummy first!” Devon pushed the older one away, then clunged herself to the mom’s long legs. “Nuh-uh, you didn’t!” Darcy’s mouth fell open as she placed both hands on her hips in incredulity. “I did, I did, I did, I did...” the 4 year-old sticked her tongue out, “Did not, did not, did not...” as they repeated such words in unison, Debbie rolled her eyes and smirked, her mind taking herself to years ago when she and her brother Danny were infants, they acted exactly that way.

“Okay, stop that at once! There’s plenty of mommy for you” the brunette grabbed the younger one in her arms, pecked her forehead, then kissed the crown of Darcy’s head. “Do waffles sound good?” Both children cheered, then rushed to help Debbie with the breakfast while their elder sister and other mother were still heavily asleep upstairs. After long minutes of the two infants joking around, eating the garnishes and raspberry sauce Debbie had made for the waffles, the breakfast was done. A delicious smell spread through the loft, surprisingly, the last two people from the Ocean-Miller household walked down the stairs, with their messy strands of hair resembling a bird’s nest and the same grumpiness as every single passing morning.

“Look at you, a million bucks first thing in the morning” Debbie teased her wife while watching Lou making her way towards her. “Shut up.” they shared a good-morning peck in the lips, which resulted in the negative reception from their three daughters. Dani, the 9 year-old, sat down next to the younger ones and started munching on her meal, while Lou proceeded on grabbing a mug and filling it with black coffee. “That’s your breakfast?” The brunette turned to ask her, one hand resting on her hip and the other onto the counter. Somehow, Lou was acting too unusually strange, and Debbie had no idea why.

“Not hungry” she sipped on her warm drink and turned to walk away, if only Debbie hadn’t grabbed by the forearm gently, forcing Lou to look directly at her. “Now, what’s wrong?” the shorter one asked in a mumble, not wanting to cause a fuss out of it, neither wanting their daughter to hear them. The moment when the blonde’s blue iris looked away at some random spot of the place, avoiding Debbie’s brown ones, she was more than sure that something was happening. “Babe,” Ocean gave Miller a reassuring look, the one they shared for years now, every time they wanted to assure one another that it was okay to unburden.

While the girls were too busy chatting about their favorite TV show and enjoying their breakfast to care about what else was happening in the room, Lou pulled Debbie to a safe spot in the kitchen, where they could talk about it safely. “It’s Rusty.” Lou mentioned her older brother, Debbie’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “He called late night yesterday” she could tell her wife was too stressed about it, since her fingers couldn’t stop fiddling with the side pocket of the silk robe, neither looking away from Ocean’s face. Debbie could swear Lou was about to shed a tear, and she hardly ever cried. “Said dad has gotten worse, and this might be his last Christmas.”

The shorter woman’s gaze softened as she locked her eyes on Lou’s face, she was desolated, just how she was in prison after receiving the news about Danny’s sudden death, and there was nothing Debbie could do to change this. The brunette simply grabbed Lou’s hands in her own and soothed her in the best way she knew how, and that helped, a little, but it helped. “I don’t even know why I’m getting sentimental over that asshole, he put me and my mom through fucking hell.” Lou proffered quietly so the girls wouldn’t hear, while wiping off the tears that had finally shedded.

“Because, after all, he’s your father, Lou.” The blonde shook her head, sniffling nonstop. “You didn’t know him, Deb. You didn’t —” She could barely finish the sentence, Debbie wiped off another tear “I know baby, I know. But will you forgive yourself if you don’t at least go see him a last time? I still regret not going to Danny’s funeral to this day. Please at least think about it.” Lou seemed to think for a moment, then a weak “Okay” escaped from her lips, before she and Debbie shared a warm and steady embrace, the one that made Lou feel like home.

* * *

The day went by, Lou’s mind was still wrapped around the situation of her father, and she couldn’t help but let the memories of her past self hit her hard as that long day dragged on. She was mostly quiet, all the three girls noticed, except none of them had the guts to ask the reason why she was acting so weirdly. The entire family was returning from a playdate at aunt Tammy’s place. The car interior remained silent as never before, except for the two younger girls, Devon and Darcy playing rock, paper, scissors in the backseat. In the meantime, Dani was entertaining herself by watching the moving landscape of the streets of New York City through the window, every single store had they showcase decorated for that time of year. On the other side, there was Debbie, trying her best to amuse herself with the deadly silence, sometimes taking a look at the blonde by her side, the one overwhelmed with her own thoughts.

“Moms, can I turn on the radio?” the elder of three daughters asked, switching looks between Debbie and Lou. “Sure, honey,” both women said in unison. Dani did so, and soon the song _“Holly Jolly Christmas”_ by Michael Bublé filled the car’s silence. The 9 year-old backed away in her seat once again and swayed to the Christmassy melody as she tapped her fingers on her own thigh. Darcy and Devon did the same, only a little bit more exaggerated. The two moms watched their little ones having a fun time in such amusement. Debbie and Lou shared glances. “Christmas songs are fun, momma!” Devon said a little bit too loud, as she made her stuffed toy dance to it as well. “They are huh, sweetheart?” Lou forced a smile, but it faded away too quickly. Memories were hitting her again, harder this time.

_December 23 th, 1982. Lou and her mother, Elisa, were dressed in stupidly exaggerated Christmas knitted sweaters, while cuddling on the couch, enjoying some hot cocoa and watching funny Christmas movies on TV. Rusty left hours ago to sleep at some friend’s house, and her father, well, for no one’s surprise, he wasn’t at home. He never was. _

_Lou’s best guess was that he was probably babbling loudly with another alcoholic old man about politics while sitting at some random bar table. Howard wouldn’t be back until he barely could stand on his own feet after drinking too much._

_When he finally gets home, he’ll talk a little bit more of nonsense, until her mother, Elisa, takes him upstairs for a cold shower, then convinces him to go to bed. Lou has seen it done too many times._

_Unfortunately, she was wrong._

_That very night triggered countless unreported cases of domestic violence involving Howard and Elisa, which caused Lou to get traumatized for the rest of her life._

Once she took her eyes off the rear-view mirror, watching the girls still dancing, Debbie turned to her wife and figured that her grip on the steering wheel became harder, and she stood still, completely stiff and barely blinked. It was such a terrifying image of Lou. In the meantime, the blonde’s mind returned to the real world, and she didn’t take long to turn off the radio, completely ruining that sweet and simple moment for the little ones. Her blue orbs sticked to the road, while Debbie had her face in disbelief. The complaints from the backseat came within a second.

“What in the world, Lou?” the brunette simply said. Lou’s grip on the steering wheel tightened as she closed her eyes shut for brief seconds.

“Momma, why’d you turn it off, it was fun!” Darcy groaned.

“Yeah, it’s Christmas” Dev cried out sweetly with her little lisp.

“Relax, I’ll turn it on again—” Dani bended forward, her fingers almost touching the radio buttons.

“Don’t you dare tuning this shit on again, Danielle!” Lou yelled, causing the three infants to flinch and retreat. “Lou!” Debbie said louder in a more authoritarian way, indirectly warning her to watch her mouth and her tone around them. The girls had never seen her so mad, especially for something stupid such as Christmas songs. The car went back to silence and remained so until they got home.

They walked into the house, still an awkwardness among them, especially between Lou and Debbie. The shorter one was well-aware that her wife wasn’t in the best state of mind that day, but she had gotten way out of line by yelling in the car like that. “Girls, go upstairs, okay? Momma and I need to have a little chit-chat.” Debbie announced as she kissed Danielle on the top of the head. In the meantime, Lou threw herself on the couch, and started fidgeting with her own rings. “Promise you won’t start yelling again?” Darcy added. “Go,” Debbie mumbled and smiled sadly at the middle-child, slapping her lower backside mildly.

When the place was out of children, Debbie turned to look at her wife, who had her head down in shame of herself. “Okay, what the fuck happened back there?” She asked quietly, Lou looked up at her with a heartbreaking glance in response.

“I don’t know, Debs. I was fine, then — I suddenly wasn’t anymore.” The blonde gesticulated more than usual, playing around with the ends of her blazer. “They got scared when you yelled at them, _I_ did.” Ocean’s voice was about to break, “You were never like that, baby. What’s going on?”

“It’s my dad.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I haven’t talked to him in years, but he’s still all over me like a fucking tick I can’t get rid of!” She blurted out in that strong Australian accent and got up from the couch seat. “Then you come with that bullshit of talking to that fucker again and seeing him one last time, or I’m gonna regret it but —” Lou was starting to panic, her voice was breaking, she was about to have a breakdown. “But I don’t think I’m strong enough to do that, Debs. I’m not.” She shakes her head too much as tears fall over. Suddenly, the brunette sensed the exact time her heart broke into a million pieces.

“Lou— Baby, come here,” she opened her arms towards her wife, offering her another one of her warm embraces. “I need some time to think, to clear my thoughts.” Lou left the household in less than a second. Debbie just stood there, in complete disappointment, feeling like a fool for not knowing what was going on in that little pretty mind of her wife’s. The brunette was well-aware that Lou would probably get the bike and go to God-Knows-Where, she had done it a million times, and that moment was no different. But the thought of her mentally unstable wife putting herself out there, riding a dangerous bike in the New York City still worried the shit out of her.

Her eyes wandered around the place, until they stopped at the top of the staircase, three pairs of curious stares looking directly down at her. The girls wondered if it was safe to come down already. “I’m sorry for that, sweethearts.” Debbie reached her hand to them, so they finally walked down the stairs. “Are you and Momma divorcing?” Darcy shot that question completely out of the blue, getting her mother by surprise. Debbie scoffed, “No, honey. We’re not getting divorced. Momma just has a lot of things to deal with right now— where did you learn that word, by the way?”

“From TV I guess” the middle child shrugged, causing Debbie to smirk and shake her head. The brunette pointed at the couch, non-verbally telling them to sit down. All the three girls sensed a long conversation was coming along. Ocean knelt before them, having their full attention. “Look, about what happened in the car—” she was trying to find the right words and explanation for what happened, except she couldn’t. Debbie let out a long sigh before continuing “Christmas is not momma’s favorite holiday.” Now Dani was the one who scoffed ironically, “I figured.” The brunette watched her eldest crossing her arms as she continued, “Something bad happened to her years ago around this date… Life changing, if you’d like.”

“How bad?” Devon asked, clinging to the stuffed animal around her arms.

“Very, very bad, honey” Now all the little ones had sad expressions resting on their angelic faces. “That’s why she avoids celebrating Christmas in every way possible.” A silence took most of the place again, except, this wasn’t an awkward one this time, the four of them were just too thoughtful to say anything. “Now I feel bad for mom. Wish I could do something to make her feel better.” Darcy looked down at her feet; Debbie smiled sadly at her daughter’s confession.

“Wait, maybe we can.” Dani said aloud, after too long seconds of thinking. “Care to elaborate, little mastermind?” the mother suddenly became genuinely interested. “We can try and change the feeling of Christmas for mom, by creating new memories. Happy ones.” Dani smiled, on the other side, Debbie had a worrying expression, she wasn’t sure if this would work. “Yeah, we can decorate the house, get a tree, use ugly sweaters, drink hot chocolate while watching a Christmas movie, and all sorts of things they do on TV.”

“Yeah, mommy, please!” Devon clunged onto her elder sisters suggestion, as always, then turned to look at the woman in front of her, who still wasn’t totally into the idea. Suddenly, the silence of the household was filled with three young girls throwing Debbie puppy dog eyes, as they begged her to make it happen, “Please mommy, please!” said the girls in unison with their incredibly shrill voices.

Ocean took a deep breath, before announcing the verdict, “Okay, then. Let’s change Christmas for momma!” It was a matter of milliseconds until the house was filled with screams of joy and excitement. The older Ocean felt her heart pounding loudly inside her chest, not exactly right if she was doing the right thing. It may be too overwhelming for her wife, but it costs nothing to try.

* * *

December 12th, a very chilly Saturday. Lou had left early to get things done at the club, which involved many documents and a bunch of bureaucratic stuff. Lou had spent most of her day busy as hell, and she had no complaints, since working helped her not think about her mental state, her traumas or her father. In the meantime, the girls decided to put the plan into action. They’d gone to numerous stores, looking for nice Christmas decorations. It’s been years since Debbie last pulled off a job, but still, she couldn’t keep her light fingers to herself, and neither could her daughters. It was moments like this where Debbie was totally sure she and Lou were doing a great job on raising those three little girls.

Now their home was beautifully decorated for that time of year, with lights and garlands all over the place, and an enormous unfinished Christmas tree in the middle of the loft. They’ve gotten too carried away with the excitement of the decorations, so they barely noticed the time passing faster than usual. The older Ocean was placing some festive cushions onto the sofa by the time when Lou got home unannounced. She stopped by the door, trying to get used to how the place was looking now, the overwhelming feeling increasing in her guts at every passing second.

“Momma!” the three said in unison once again, as Lou simply stood there, petrified. “You’re finally home,” a smiling Debbie made her way towards her, placing a kiss next to her lips. “Um, honey, care to explain why is our house looking like the Whoville from that Grinch’s movie?” the blue eyes wandered around the place.

“It was all the girls’ idea. They knew how much the holidays were a fragile topic for you, and wanted to help you change your mind, and so did I.” Debbie’s eyes glanced directly at Lou’s, trying to figure out how she was taking that. “Deb, you know how I feel about Christmas—” the shorter one cut her off.

“I know, I know. But you haven’t celebrated it in years, and now that you’ve built entire family things may change,” the blue orbs softened, “Besides, you never celebrated Christmas with us. You might even enjoy it.” A comfortable silence stepped in between them. “Come on baby, let go of the traumatic memories and replace them with happy ones.” The blonde woman looked down, then moved her glance up again. “Do it for them.”

She seemed to think about it for a moment, until her attention went directly to her girls happily decorating the Christmas tree. She watched Devon struggling to reach a specific spot of the tree to place a red bauble, thanks to her limited height.

“Need a hand there, pumpkin?” Lou went on to help her youngest by lifting her in her arms to reach the highest points of the tree. “Do you like it so far, momma?” Dani asked, as she stepped away to get a better angle to admire the tree. “Ah, I love it, it’s beautiful. You did such a great job.” She caressed Darcy and Dani’s locks. Debbie watched the whole scene with her pounding heart almost ripping out of joyfulness.

“We stole most of it,” the middle child added, and Lou looked at her wife across the room with a smirk.

“Mommy told you to, I assume.”

“Yeah. Except for the tree,” Danielle pointed out.

“We tried to, but it’s too big,” Devon shrugged adorably, as she played with some Christmassy big ribbons.

She rolled her blue orbs with a smirk, “Of course you did.”

* * *

December 15th, the girl’s plan was doing fine so far. They enjoyed the great amount of snow that day to do some winter activities. Such as starting a snowball fight and building a snowman, the one that Devon insisted to dress in old winter clothes. After it, the moms insisted the three sisters to gather around him and take a picture, and the result came out funny and lovely.

* * *

December 20th, fortunately, Lou was taking her daughter’s plan very well, although it got a little bit too overwhelming at times, but she managed to let the traumatic moments go away with the wind (at least some of them). There was a major snowstorm going on, therefore, it couldn’t be colder. So they decided to stay at home, wear horrendous Christmas knitted sweaters and enjoy a hot cocoa, while snuggling on the couch and watching a Christmas movie. Just how Lou used to do with her mother and brother in her early days.

They had chosen the live-action version of Grinch. And as soon as the incredibly ugly and scary green monster first showed up onscreen, Devon, flinched and took refuge in her arms. Despite it all, Lou and Debbie thought it was adorable how scared she was. On the other side, Dani and Darcy were laughing it off, slightly annoyed, since all they wanted was to enjoy the film. At the very end, the younger one didn’t calm down until she had Debbie change the live-action to the animated version of the story, where Grinch wasn’t as traumatic.

The three sisters fell asleep before they could finish the movie, so Lou and Debbie were in charge of tucking them up in bed, which, that night, became an easy task. As the brunette came downstairs from Devon’s bedroom, she found a thoughtful Lou swaying onto the wood stool, as she enjoyed the last cup of tea of the day. “You’re okay?” Debbie crossed her arms in result of a cold air current.

“Yeah. Just thinking about… You know,” she mumbled quietly, putting her mug down.

“Have you decided yet?” Debbie bended over the counter.

“Yes,” Lou took a deep breath as she looked down and caused a slight suspense. “I’m not going.” She said simply and plainly, turning around to place the mug into the sink. On the other side, Debbie let go a heavy breath she barely knew she was holding. She could swear Lou would agree to saying yes to seeing her father one last time, apparently she was wrong. “I just figured that I’m not ready to see him again. Maybe never will.” The blonde confessed.

“He _truly_ put me through hell, Debs,” she stared into the void, remembering it all. “It’s sad to think that my mom passed away before she could press charges against that son of a bitch.” Debbie said nothing more, she wasn’t good with words, and Lou was more than aware. Sometimes words weren’t necessary among them.

The shorter one held up her head a small mistletoe she was hiding in her palms and smirked as Lou looked at her with an appealing smile. The moment when Debbie reached for her wife’s hands, their faces approached gradually until there was no space left between their lips, suddenly they became too busy while sharing a passionate and needy kiss.

* * *

December 24th, the day had finally arrived. The whole day became crazily busy in the Ocean-Miller’s household, since they were all overwhelmed with the preparations of the Christmas dinner, especially by knowing that every single member from the Met-Gala heist would show up that night to celebrate with them. After all, none of them had no better place else to be, also, that would be the first time that Lou celebrated the holidays after a while, so that night was a huge deal.

Dani, Darcy and Devon were too busy enrolled in a conversation about Christmas presents with Keri and Derek to care about anything else going on around them. Debbie and Tammy were in the kitchen, preparing the last dishes for the supper, while Nine Ball and Constance drained the entire bottle of champagne as a result of Daphne babbling nonstop about a new movie. Amita and Rose talked about some new jewelry they bought for the gift exchange that year.

The Australian woman looked around and smiled at the idea of having such warmth and acquaintance in every single passing year. It’s been ages since she last celebrated the holidays, and somehow she forgot the magic of it. Fortunately, she had three loving girls, and an incredible wife who cared enormously about her to not let her forget what Christmas stood for, and she would be forever grateful for building such a beautiful family with the woman she loves.

Lou felt her phone buzzing into her pocket. A text message. Initially she thought it was from the club, but as she opened, she figured out it belonged from her older brother, Rusty. “He passed.” The blonde read it quietly to herself, feeling the taste in her mouth becoming strangely bitter. Tears were nowhere to be found. For some reason, she no longer loved her father right after the moment he laid a hand on her deceased mother in that very night. She promised herself to never forget such horrendous scene until she’s six feet under. “Are you planning the funeral?” she sent another cold text to Rusty. “No funeral. Thinking about cremation. No one would attend it anyways.”

Lou smiled sadly, remembering how unlikeable the old man was. “Merry Christmas, fucker.” It only took a few seconds until he could send a response. "Merry Christmas, asshole.” She smiled down at her phone, then put it back into her pocket. “Guys, dinner’s ready!” Tammy called out, suddenly everyone stepped into the dining room. As Devon ran across the room, she accidentally bumped into Lou, who grabbed her in her arms in a funny way and distributed kisses all over her face. “Come here you little troublemaker!” Devon’s loud giggles filled the entire place.

After everyone was comforted in their seats, Lou stood there at the end of the table. Debbie was sitting down, just like the others, except she looked up at her wife attentively; trying to figure out what her next move would be. “Guys, I just wanted to say a few last words before we begin.”

“Lou getting all emotional and cliché, never thought I’d see that” Constance added, causing everyone to laugh. She received a “Shut up” from Lou in response. The Australian woman lifted her champagne glass.

“I wanted to thank you for coming today. It’s good to have you all here, even at the times when we get mad by having _some_ of you breaking into our house at 6 in the morning and eat all our cereal.” Lou mentioned Nine and Constance. “It’s been years since the heist, but we all became a family and it’s good to know that Debbie, the girls and I will always have people looking after us if we’re ever going through a hard time.” Everyone let go an “Awww” in the middle of it, causing Lou to giggle. The brunette felt tears pricking in the back of her eyes.

The blonde turned to her wife, sitting next to her. “And you, my love. You’re everything I asked for and more. You blessed me with a beautiful family, and I couldn’t thank you enough. Even if we go through the hard times, you’ll always be there ready to lift me up.” The tears Debbie was holding finally came out. Lou turned to look at her three girls, sitting at the child’s table next to them. “And to my three little brats. I love you more than I can put into words. You have no idea how you’ve changed my life for the better. Thank you for caring enough to make me change my mind about this time of year. I can’t wait to create more happy Christmas memories with the four of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!  
> Kudos and comments always make my day!  
> Happy holidays y'all! :)


End file.
